Sometimes, I like to imagine what me at different stages of my life would think of me in the present. How would fifteen year old Molly feel knowing that I’m currently living abroad in Australia? She would absolutely flip out. How would me two years ago feel? She’d say that’s never going to happen, and I was insane for telling her it would. If you told Molly six months ago that she would not only be living in Australia, but starting a job in Launceston, she’d say it was impossible. If you would have told me at the beginning of this entire moving abroad journey about every hurdle I would face or challenge I’d need to overcome, I probably wouldn’t have done it. But that’s true about the whole of life, isn’t it? If we knew how difficult a journey would be, if we knew every place we would fail or every hardship, chances are, we wouldn’t continue down the path we’d started. That’s the beautiful thing about the journey of life, it takes you to places and through situations you never thought you would be able to face, but you find a way through them, and you have the chance to come out stronger than you were before.
I’ve always thought of myself as a problem solver. I look at life and situations a bit like a math problem, how can I solve it? What formula will get me the correct answer? If this answer isn’t correct, how can I do better? I am the kind of person who will exhaust all means to get to a solution. That’s how I ended up in this country in the first place. Originally, Europe was the place I was going to move away to, specifically Scotland. I came home from my Australian adventure, knew for sure I wanted to move abroad, and settled on Europe. That was all great, until I discovered the difficulties of getting a work visa as an American. Fun fact: Most countries don’t want us. I guess our patriotism and know-it-all attitude is perceived as off putting. After weeks of extensive research, I only had five countries to choose from, and I figured, why not Australia? Because let’s be honest, something about it calls to me. I feel drawn to this place, and the way everything aligned without me even trying, it seemed like a magnet was pulling me here. In the back of my head, when it became apparent that Australia was the country I’d move to, I just knew this was the way it was meant to work out.
The reason I’d chosen to au pair was because my food, housing, and car would be provided. Yes, the pay was absolutely atrocious, but the benefits of what I would receive outweighed the bad pay. I was willing to use au pair as a tool to see if I loved the country enough to commit to being here long term, but as I found out last week, that was never the true path for me. Last year, when I was really going through it, I read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. In one scene, she’s sitting at a table surrounded by friends, and with tears she recites, “This was always going to happen.” I wept when I read that because I thought, what a comfort? How comforting it is to know that, all the good and wonderful things in my future are already laid out for me, I just need to live the journey to them. As I learned last week, even though I’d made all these well-thought out plans for myself, God has better plans. I was meant to stay here in Launceston, I was meant to keep these friends, there is more for me here than I’d known, and this was always going to happen. Me at fifteen, me at twenty-two, and me six months ago could never have known, but how wonderful is it that God knew?
Last Thursday, the day after accepting my new position, I had a few things to immediately take care of. Here’s the four majors: I needed a car, a place to rent (I was losing my car and housing on Saturday), a bank account, and I needed an Australian business number. I’d been warned that finding housing in Launceston can take ages, so I needed to prepare to search for at least a month, if not more. The night I accepted my job, I did a quick Google search, found a unit to rent, and requested to view it. The next day, Thursday, I joined a few other hopefuls as we toured the unit. Even before showing up, I just knew in my heart that this was the place for me. I didn’t know how, but I knew I would get it. After the showing, I talked with the realtor for twenty minutes, told her how I wanted to apply, and she offered me the unit on the spot. Turns out she wasn’t a realtor, she was the owner, and apparently I’d made such a good impression that she was willing to offer me the space on-the-spot, no references required. We signed the lease that night, and I move in October 2nd. Everyone is really shocked and surprised, but somehow, I’m not. I can’t explain it other than to say that, my job here worked out so wonderfully, I just knew a place to stay would as well.
Because my job is a sole trader, I need an Australian Business Number, ABN, to work. It reminds me a lot of being a 10-99 tax person in the US, but here I’m running my own business, and could technically hire someone if I wanted to. Again, past Molly, did you ever think you’d run an Australian business? All that took was a quick call to the government, five minutes online, and I had my number. The car will be a bit more tricky. Through mutuals, I was able to find someone who is renting a car for me until I can find one for myself, which is an insane blessing. The bank account? Don’t get me started. Opening it was easy, transferring money from my bank in America made me want to rip my hair out. Apparently, at Truist, you can only wire transfer from a Truist branch in America. I had the money, it’s my money, but I couldn’t access my own money. But even through that, I eventually found a way to transfer myself money, so I could make my security deposit and pay for my car.
The bright side is that we don’t get to see the journey before starting, we don’t get to see the end. If I would have known what the first four weeks in Tasmania were going to hold for me, I can honestly say that I wouldn’t have come, but wow, am I thankful for that fifth week. If I knew everything, if I could see where my plans fell through and where I struggled, I would have said no to being here. If I could have seen my hours of visa research, if I could have known that I’d be buying a car in Tasmania or starting a business or not having access to my funds or not knowing where I’d be sleeping in two days, I would have been too afraid to begin this journey. Sometimes, it takes a leap of faith in stepping out for a life you want to have, for a dream or a hope, and being okay with not seeing the entire journey. Sometimes, life really is lived by taking it one day, one step at a time, and trusting that Someone greater is holding your future. Because, even though there have been hard days and unknowns, I have a car, I have a bed to sleep in before I can move in, I have friends, and I have a great job. I woke up today with hope, knowing that no matter what, this was always going to happen. Every good thing and every good person I have was always here, even on my worst days; this was waiting for me. And that is my greatest comfort, that God has the best there for me, I just need to hope and trust in what He has for each new day.
Yours Truly,
the Brightside Blonde
On Saturday I said goodbye to the cats I was housesitting for and moved into Abby and Liam’s, Abby set the guest room up for me. Later that night, I had croquettes (a Dutch food) at dinner with the ladies from the church. Sunday I had tea and lunch with Liam’s family, and spotted the cutest tiny pinecones by the side of the road.